Britons are set to bask in the third heatwave of the summer as temperatures are expected to soar again this week.
Temperatures are set to rise into the low 30s over the next few days and the heat is forecast to remain at night, with “tropical nights” set to ruin sleep, the Met Office said.
A yellow heat health alert which was originally issued just for south of England, has now been extended to the whole country.
The health alert will be in place over the next week and experts are warning “significant impacts” are likely across health and social care services due to higher temperatures over the period.
The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Tuesday, will be in place from 10am on Wednesday until 10am next Tuesday.
The highest temperatures are forecast for Saturday, with England and Wales expected to deal with the hottest weather, making for a sweltering start to the finals weekend for Wimbledon fans and players taking to the courts in SW19.
On Friday temperatures are forecast to hit 31 degrees in London and Cardiff, while Manchester could also hit 29 degrees.
Saturday is also set to see highs of 30 degrees across the UK, with highs of 29 degrees also predicted for Glasgow.
It follows a weekend of cooler air, cloud and rain in most of England, and a yellow warning for thunderstorms in the east of the country on Sunday.
Marco Petagna, senior meteorologist at the Met Office, said temperatures are expected to climb steadily this week, with Wednesday likely to be the point when they “start to reach the thresholds of 25 to 28 degrees, depending on where you are.”
While these temperatures meet the criteria for a heatwave, Mr Petagna said: “You need three days at those temperatures for it to be able to be called a technical heatwave,” meaning an official heatwave is unlikely to be declared before Friday.
Conditions will continue to heat up over the weekend with Friday and Saturday potentially seeing highs of “30 degrees, perhaps just nudging into the low 30s.”
He also warned that the weekend could bring rising humidity and warmer nights, making conditions “more uncomfortable by night.”
Yet the duration of the hot spell remains difficult to gauge, and there are uncertainties about just how high temperatures will rise.
It also appears as though the UK will avoid the stifling weather of the high 30s and low 40s seen in the Mediterranean.
Mr Petagna added it is uncertain how long the hot spell will last into next week, with forecast models offering mixed signals.
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“It’s a bit of a question mark going through the weekend [and] early next week,” he said. Some models suggest the heat may ease off while others “keep the heat going”.
For now, it appears likely that the hot weather will persist into next weekend, particularly in southern parts of the UK, where temperatures “could again certainly get into the low 30s in a few spots.”
Mr Petagna also warned of “very high pollen and very high UV levels” over the coming days.
However, he noted the UK has so far avoided the extreme temperatures seen elsewhere in Europe, adding: “We’ve managed to escape some of the very highest temperatures... seen across Spain and Portugal... where it has reached the mid-40s.”
The UK saw its hottest day of the year so far when 34.7C was recorded at St James’s Park in central London on 1 July, while the capital also experienced the hottest start to Wimbledon on record.
Provisional Met Office figures also showed England had its warmest June on record last month.
Two amber heat health alerts were issued in consecutive weeks at the end of June amid two separate heatwaves.
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